Friday, May 15, 2009Cayman Progresses

Caribbean Net NewsCayman Islands Government Claims Progress In OECD Negotiations

The Cayman Islands government cliamed progress this week in both areas of its implementation of international standards in tax information exchange.

The Cayman Islands unilateral mechanism1 was cleared to go forward by the Harmful Tax Practices Sub-committee for review by the Committee on Fiscal Affairs2 of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Committee on Fiscal Affairs will review the unilateral mechanism next month.

At the same time, Cayman’s bilateral negotiations are moving forward as the negotiating team is in Paris preparing for discussions to get underway tomorrow with the Netherlands. Other countries in the negotiation programme include Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Spain and the UK.

“We continue to make solid progress on our key initiatives to implement international standards in tax information exchange and look forward to providing details on future developments in the coming weeks,” said Alden McLaughlin, Minister for International Financial Services Policy.

“We have also been made aware of new proposals put forward by the OECD and the UK for Cayman to consider involving multilateral instruments and are seeking details, as OECD staffers are in meetings today until late evening Paris time. We must consider any and all opportunities to further our strategy of employing the most effective and efficient means of getting the result we need,” he concluded.

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